Southern Miss pitcher Barry Bowden went from a potential no-hitter to a possible loss thanks to a disastrous sixth inning. However, his teammates were there to back him up with some major run support in a 13-6 win over New Orleans in the Baton Rouge Regional.

“That was a very interesting game,” Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer said. “Barry had a good five innings and we felt real good. But all of a sudden, they came to life and the momentum was with them. It was a credit to our team to fight back.”

Bowden looked like he was cruising to an easy victory through five innings. The Vidalia native did not give up a hit and walked only one, which was erased on a pickoff. The USM offense also staked Bowden to a 6-0 lead, thanks to a five-run fourth inning.

However, after recording the first out of the sixth inning, the wheels began to come off. Bowden walked Mark McGonigle before allowing his first hit of the game, a double to Tyrone Wethers that put runners on second and third.

After a Ryan Eden single plated the first UNO run, Bowden induced a fly out for the second out but then plunked T.J. Baxter to load the bases. Johnny Giavotella followed with a two-run single that knocked Bowden out of the game.

Relief pitcher Wade Weathers then gave up a three-run homer to Josh Vander Hay which tied the score and gave Palmer a reason to worry.

“I thought we were in real trouble when the score was 6-6,” the USM coach said.

Bowden, who has not pitched more than six innings in a start since returning from a muscle strain in his shoulder, looked like he might have tired a little in the sixth, although he didn’t feel that way.

“The sixth inning was the best I felt the whole game,” Bowden said. “I felt like I tried to do too much in that inning and was overthrowing and leaving the ball up. The first five innings flew by so quickly but I just tried to do too much in the sixth.”

But while Bowden has been a rock in the pitching staff all season long, this time it was the offense that came forward to help him out.

The Golden Eagle onslaught began in the bottom of the sixth, when a triple by Bo Davis and a single by Brian Dozier plated two runs to give USM the lead once again.

However, the sixth inning was just a warm up for the Golden Eagle offense. The real fireworks came in the seventh.

It started with back-to-back home runs by Trey Sutton and Drew Carson. Then, following a hit batsman and a single, the big inning was capped off by Michael Ewing’s three-run bomb over the LSU “Intimidator” billboard in right field.

Ewing came into the game hitting only .200 on the season, but was 3-for-4 with five RBIs in the game.

“It felt really good because I haven’t had the season I wanted to have up to this point,” Ewing said. “It’s always good when I can help the team out any way possible.”

Bowden, for one, was glad to get the run support.

“UNO came back and tied the game but our offense answered and put up two runs in the bottom of the inning,” Bowden said. “Hats off to our offense. There were a lot of guys who stepped up tonight.”

Carson said it was important for the Golden Eagles to come right back and score runs after the Privateers had tied the score.

“That was big to get the lead right back,” Carson said. “It’s going to stop the momentum of the other team and work in your favor. And it did that for us tonight.”

Weathers (4-1) picked up the win in relief while Justin Garcia (6-2) was tagged with the loss for the Privateers after allowing eight runs, five earned, in 5 1/3 innings.

Bowden received a no-decision after being charged with five earned runs – on just three hits – in 5 2/3 innings.

Southern Miss (41-20) will play LSU (43-16-1) in the winners bracket game at 6 tonight. The Tigers were 12-1 winners over Texas Southern on Friday and have won 21 games in a row.

Palmer said there was a chance that Bowden would pitch again in the regional, since he threw only 76 pitches Friday night.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Palmer said. “We’ll leave it up to him.”